Wood Bison

Gallery: WildlifePosted October 12, 201391 views5 comments

Hi everyone, sorry I’ve been absent for a while but we’ve had a pretty busy summer, however now that fall has arrived I’ll hopefully have a bit more time to post and comment.

This shot is of a Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) or Mountain Bison (sometimes called a wood buffalo or mountain buffalo) which is a northern sub-species of the more common Plains Bison (Bison bison bison) found in Yellowstone NP.

The Wood Bison differs from the Plains Bison in several ways: its coat has a more shaggy appearance and its cape blends smoothly to its loins. Its horns are shorter and extend sideways and back; its hump is well ahead of its front legs and is taller and squarer; it has less hair on its front legs; and its beard is much shorter with a more scraggly appearance. It is also heavier than the Plains Bison with large bulls often weighing more than 900 kg’s (2000lb) which according to Wikipedia, makes it the heaviest terrestrial animal in North America.

This shot was taken through a fence at Elk Island NP (just east of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), minutes before sunset and with a somewhat uncooperative subject.

Comments, critique and suggestions always welcome.

Tech stuff:
Canon 1D4, 24-105mm @ 60mm, f/9, 1/100, ISO-640, Spot Metering, Manual Exposure, HH. 10% crop @ top and rt side.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Ralph Kerr on October 12, 2013 at 10:12 AM

Nice shot Rick. The light conditions are wonderful. I have never seen this sub-species. My only nit is that the Bison is centered in the frame. Might be even stronger if your small crop could somehow reposition it. Congrats on a great shot.

Registered on January 30, 2007, 369 Posts, 852 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on October 12, 2013 at 7:05 PM

Nice light at this time of day, great warm glow on the bison and land. Too bad that the fence and a bison on the move limited your comp options a little as I too would like to see a bit more space in front of the subject. I might try cropping some of the water plants from the bottom and add some of the glorious summer sky back at the top since you have it available. You have a great low pov here Rick and I think more sky would add to the grandeur befitting of this big guy. Love the parkland setting here Rick, I keep saying I gotta get back to Elk Island soon!

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on October 13, 2013 at 12:04 PM

It is cool that you timed the shutter to catch the almost tip toe effect of a very large land mammal!

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on October 13, 2013 at 2:06 PM

It's a nice profile, and the bison is framed well against the trees. I do believe a crop from the bottom would benefit this image greatly. You could consider cropping from the right as well, which essentially leaves more space in the foreground to help the "directionality," as Gary and others mentioned.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Andrews on October 13, 2013 at 2:31 PM

Hi everyone and thanks for your comments and suggestions. Lon I think the tip toe effect was more luck than by design but I won't say anything if you don't

Here is a further cropped version of the same image as per your suggestions, and I agree I think it generally strengthens the image and improves the directionality also mentioned.

cheers
Rick

Registered on December 31, 2011, 45 Posts, 222 Comments